It seems like it's never a dull moment when Frolunda and Lulea meet, and this game was no different. Tied on aggregate at 7 goals each, Frolunda won in a shootout to return to the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals.

 Frolunda Gothenburg 6–4 Lulea Hockey 

FROLUNDA WIN ON AGGREGATE 8–7 (SO)

by Derek O'Brien, with contribution from Efraim Larsson

GOTHENBURG – The Champions Hockey League will have a new champion in 2016, as Lulea Hockey have been eliminated by the same team that they beat in the 2015 Final, and it went right down to the wire. Trailing by a goal on aggregate, Frolunda Gothenburg out-scored Lulea 5–4 today on the strength of 3 power-play goals and then, after a scoreless overtime, won in a shootout. Spencer Abbott led the offence with 3 points, including the shootout-winning goal.

“It was a good one for us, of course, as they every time we scored came back even. But I think we showed a lot of character by always getting back to it and scoring that next goal that we needed,” said Frolunda's Artturi Lehkonen, who assisted on his team's fourth goal.

Both of the first two periods were played a breakneck speed and produced four goals each. Starting with Johan Sundstrom's game-opening goal at 5:09, Frolunda tied the aggregate score three times and Lulea went back in front three times through the first 22 minutes. Special teams played a role, starting with Toni Rajala's power-play goal at 11:33 to tie the game, but then Andreas Johnsson put Frolunda back up on a two-man advantage and Johan Forsberg replied for Lulea on a shorthanded breakaway before the first period expired.

“There were a lot of goals and many power-play opportunities and penalty kills, so it honestly felt like the game could've ended up going either way,” Johnson said of the back-and-forth scoring. 

The teams started the second by trading goals just 11 seconds apart, and finally Oscar Fantenberg scored Frolunda's fourth aggregate-tying goal in the 29th minute – not even halfway through the game. Finally, in the 35th minute, Frolunda took their first aggregate lead off a faceoff win by Joel Lundqvist in the attacking zone and a perfect shot from Spencer Abbott – it was Frolunda's third power-play goal of the game, but Lulea would still have one big one to come. 

“It was going back and forth all the time where we had our amount of chances and I think that we capitalized on them pretty well today. I mean, we scored five goals today and when you do that you should expect to win,” Lehkonen said. But on this day they would need a sixth.

That's because with 14:39 to play in regulation time, Frolunda's Patrik Carlsson drove Lulea's Jacob Legace into the boards and was given a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding and it didn't take the defending European champs long to capitalize – Jonathan Sigalet's shot from the point was stopped, but Johan Harju put in the rebound and the aggregate was even once again, this time at 7 each.

Frolunda had a couple of more power-play opportunities late in the third period, but were unable to score and a 10-minute overtime settled nothing, so this series was decided in a shootout. 

Starting with Frolunda, the first three shooters scored, but then Joel Lassinantti and Lars Johansson stopped their next two shots each, giving Johnson – Frolunda's fifth shooter – a chance to end the game, and he did just that, exorcising the demon of last year and returning the club to the CHL Semi-Finals.

“I was pretty calm at that moment, and basically thought about which move I should do,” Johnson said of the last shot of the game. “Joel (Lassinantti) is quite short and small, so I thought that I'd skate pretty fast and brake a little earlier than I usually do to take the shot, and as I before the penalty shot thought about aiming under his trapper I just had to do it as he gave me a quite big space there when I also came forward.”

Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg told SVT after the game, “It feels really great to advance to the semi-finals this season as well, but the best part is that we’ve knocked out the reigning champs of Europe! I'd lie if I said anything else than it's a great feeling standing here as a winner right now, so we're heading forward and excited about the semi-finals!”

GOALS:

• 1st 05:09 - 1:0 (EQ) - Johan Sundstrom (Oscar Fantenberg, Lukas Bengtsson)
• 1st 11:33 - 1:1 (PP1) - Toni Rajala (Jacob Micflikier, Jacob Lagace)
• 1st 17:15 - 2:1 (PP2) - Andreas Johnson (Ryan Lasch, Spencer Abbott)
• 1st 18:36 - 2:2 (SH1) - Johan Forsberg (Karl Fabricius)
• 2nd 21:31 - 3:2 (EQ) - Patrik Carlsson (Artturi Lehkonen, Robin Figren)
• 2nd 21:42 - 3:3 (EQ) - Christopher Mastomaki (Karl Fabricius, Jonathan Sigalet)
• 2nd 28:31 - 4:3 (PP1) - Oscar Fantenberg
• 2nd 34:35 - 5:3 (PP1) - Spencer Abbott (Joel Lundqvist)
• 3rd 46:12 - 5:4 (PP1) - Johan Harju (Jonathan Sigalet, Craig Schira)

LIVE BLOG & STATS | SERIES PAGE | 1st GAME